How long did your smartphone last?

[zoom-zoom]

I WISH my Incredible would f'ing die. I hate it. And I REALLY liked it...for 8-9 months. Before the widespread "data space low" bug hit, even though I have nearly no added apps on my phone (and removed a bunch when I started getting that alert, even though it made no difference), no music, etc. Then HTC FUBARd the "upgrade" to 2.3.4. I am stuck on build 4.06, along with a lot of other people. 4.08 has tried to go through 3x, but crashes on restart...again, insufficient data, even though I have WAY more than enough available space. It's affecting many phones.

My once stable phone has become a buggy mess in recent months (I've had it barely over 11 months), crashes at random, and is slow. I've decided to go iPhone for my next phone, as soon as I can upgrade. With the Droid there are 3 factors that have to play nice: phone/phone mfg., OS, and cellular provider. With the iPhone the OS and hardware are essentially one entity. Fewer things to go wrong. Worth the added cost, IMO. Plus I use an iPod shuffle on my runs and bring my phone. I could bundle the 2 in one device. And my home computer is a Mac.

[nscrbug]

I just purchased my first smartphone this past Friday. I went with the Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T). While I cannot attest to it's longevity or performance yet, I can say that I am quickly getting sucked into the whole smartphone phenomenon. I hadn't even considered getting a smartphone until very recently...when my old Nokia flip-phone started dying a slow death. But I simply could not pass up the deal that Sam's Club was offering on Black Friday for the Samsung Galaxy - .96 cents for the phone with activation fee waived. The total came to $1.04 for a phone that everyone else was selling for $199. I just hope it survives for more than 18 months.

[ny biker]

Well this is all very interesting. It is certainly not an easy product category to navigate.

Part of me doesn't want to jump on the iphone bandwagon -- I'm happy with android, and I think it's important to support strong alternatives to it for the sake of consumer choice. And it would be great if I didn't have to get all new accessories in addition to a new phone. But if it seems the most reliable option, I'll get one.

Anyway, the plot thickened today. I finally had a chance to use the car charger for several hours, and it fully charged the battery in only two hours. When plugging the phone into a wall outlet, it only charges halfway and then stops charging -- in fact the battery status says "discharging" -- no matter how long I leave it plugged in. If I unplug it and plug it in again, it will start charging again, but the battery never gets past half-charged.

Unfortunately I'm not often in the car for that long, so I can't rely on the car charger or even do more testing with it to prove today was not a fluke.

It looks like I qualify for "new every 2" at the end of January, so no matter what I will try to make it that long before replacing the phone. A co-worker's Incredible died a few weeks ago, and he had had a second battery with a wall charger which he gave to me. I've been using that to charge the battery for the past few days. I will also look into buying a new cord/charger to plug the phone into an outlet, though I don't want to spend a lot of money on that.

I have not updated the phone's OS -- I tried, but it said I didn't have enough memory so I should delete some email messages. I figured if email messages are enough to fill the memory, I don't want the "upgrade."

I googled "HTC Incredible won't charge battery" a couple of days ago and found a link to an Android users' forum. I'm going to look for that again and see if I can find more info on which phones are more reliable and which to stay away from.

I just spent my holiday weekend playing "tech support expert" for various members of my family who needed computer help. Now I guess I need to become more of an expert on phones.

[zoom-zoom]

I have not updated the phone's OS -- I tried, but it said I didn't have enough memory so I should delete some email messages. I figured if email messages are enough to fill the memory, I don't want the "upgrade."

It's BS. If you look at the available memory I'd put money on you having plenty. I have 5.9GB (of 6.46) of available internal storage and 582MB of 748 available phone memory. As of last night my phone will no longer sync with gmail. The low disk space error is also popping up, again, which was supposed to be fixed with 2.3.4.

I've had this phone 11 months, so I am a LONG ways away from being eligible for replacement.

The Droid Incredible forum on VZW is overrun by people with FUBARd phones. I have seen no one successfully helped by Verizon or HTC, either. Both companies are washing their hands of the issues and blaming the other (though it's definitely looking like an HTC problem. They screwed up the roll-out of Gingerbread for Incredible that was supposed to happen back in Aug.).

Whatever phone you end up looking at, if I were you I would rule-out HTC. They've not shown themselves to be a company that stands behind their products or software.

[Norse]

My current phone is a Samsung Rogue (not a smartphone but does most everything) and I have been very happy with it. I was eligible for the upgrade in August but have not made a move yet because I currently have a cheaper unlimited data plan that Verizon no longer offers. My data plan expires in Dec though so I have been looking. I want the smartphone features but alas, I do not like the size. These things do not fit well in a bike bag! Because I am hard on my phones, and take them biking, hiking... I was thinking of a "rugged" smartphone. Anyone have any experience with these?

[nscrbug]

My current phone is a Samsung Rogue (not a smartphone but does most everything) and I have been very happy with it. I was eligible for the upgrade in August but have not made a move yet because I currently have a cheaper unlimited data plan that Verizon no longer offers. My data plan expires in Dec though so I have been looking. I want the smartphone features but alas, I do not like the size. These things do not fit well in a bike bag! Because I am hard on my phones, and take them biking, hiking... I was thinking of a "rugged" smartphone. Anyone have any experience with these?

Hmmm..."rugged" smartphone almost seems like an "oxymoron" to me. Not sure if such a thing exists. My new Samsung has a glass screen which is prone to scratches and cracks. I purchased a screen protector shield, but who knows how well it will actually work. And I wouldn't plan on dropping a smartphone...unless it lands on a soft surface or you have it insured. Good luck in finding a "rugged" smartphone...do let us know if you come across one. Oh, and I agree on the size thing too. This new phone I got is huge...not sure where or how I'm going to carry it on the bike as it won't fit in my seat bag or my top tube bag. I guess I'll have to carry it in one of my jersey pockets and hope that it doesn't fall out.

[Norse]

Hmmm..."rugged" smartphone almost seems like an "oxymoron" to me. Not sure if such a thing exists. My new Samsung has a glass screen which is prone to scratches and cracks. I purchased a screen protector shield, but who knows how well it will actually work. And I wouldn't plan on dropping a smartphone...unless it lands on a soft surface or you have it insured. Good luck in finding a "rugged" smartphone...do let us know if you come across one. Oh, and I agree on the size thing too. This new phone I got is huge...not sure where or how I'm going to carry it on the bike as it won't fit in my seat bag or my top tube bag. I guess I'll have to carry it in one of my jersey pockets and hope that it doesn't fall out.

Verizon carries at least one ruggedized smartphone: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/s...edPhoneId=5634. They also have a few ruggedized not as smart phones. Perhaps I need a bigger bike bag.

[jessmarimba]

My current phone is a Samsung Rogue (not a smartphone but does most everything) and I have been very happy with it. I was eligible for the upgrade in August but have not made a move yet because I currently have a cheaper unlimited data plan that Verizon no longer offers.

Usually when you upgrade your phone you just extend your current plan, even if it's no longer offered. I'd think your data plan should be fine. I'm on my original data plan from AT&T and it hasn't been offered in a few years, and I also kept a phone plan for 650 minutes about 5 years after they stopped offering that, too.


Apparently my bf has some sort of Samsung, also, but he's had his for maybe a year and it's terrible. Doesn't charge, doesn't stay charged, doesn't work when it should.

[ny biker]

I guess when I go to choose a new phone I will bring my bike bags with me to check for fit.

So this morning while at home I plugged my phone into the usb port in my laptop, and it seemed to be charging okay. When I got to work I plugged it into the usb port in my work pc to see if it would finish charging. What a mistake!! The pc came to a complete halt. I had to reboot it. And now the phone won't connect to the 3G network.